Antibiotic activities of extracts from Prunus mume fruit against food-borne bacterial pathogens and its active components

Abstract

Prunus mume has good antibacterial activity in addition to its high nutrition and many medical functions. In order to determine which components play domain role in fruit of Prunus mume, the antibacterial activities of five extracts (total, CHCl3, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water) and eight compounds (squalene, epicatechin, chlorogenic acid, isoquercitrin, citric acid, rutin, amygdalin, and asparagine) against five food-borne bacteria (Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli) were measured through agar plate drilling method. The ethyl acetate extract showed the highest inhibitory activities. At a concentration of 50 mg/mL, citric acid isolated from an ethyl acetate extract had superior activities against all five bacteria, compared with the other compounds. Chlorogenic acid, also isolated from the ethyl acetate extract, inhibited four of the five bacteria. Epicatechin, isolated from the ethyl acetate extract, inhibited Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica, while isoquercetrin, isolated from the ethyl acetate extract, and asparagine, isolated from the n-butanol extract, inhibited Listeria monocytogenes only. The results hinted citric acid, chlorogenic acid, epicatechin, isoquercetrin and asparagine were the compounds playing domain role on the antibiotic activities of Prunus mume against the five bacteria.